1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a service providing system, and more particularly to a service providing system which fuses together an SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) server environment, such as a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) server environment representatively implemented by e.g. the SIP, and a Web-AP server environment, providing an AP (application: application software) on the Web (World Wide Web) environment, to provide a VoIP-Web convergence application software (AP) service. The present invention also relates to a method, apparatus and a program sequence providing such a service.
2. Description of the Background Art
Up to now, attempts were not made in fusing together the application environment based upon the SIP by the SIP server employing the SIP and the application environment based upon the Web by a Web server employing e.g. the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), but server systems were constructed separately from each other as distinct AP environments. The reason is that the respective systems were used for different purposes in such a manner that the Web-AP environment is used for constructing an information-providing type application service, furnished by the Internet service provider (ISP) or information systems of business organizations, while the SIP-AP environment is used for constructing the telephone-based services.
In interconnecting these server environments, implemented by the different communication protocols, for realization of concerted operations, the routine practice was to use a gateway for protocol conversion as a mediating system. Specifically, an HTTP-SIP conversion gateway was additionally needed for implementing the function of interconnection conversion between the HTTP as the Web environment protocol and the SIP as the SIP environment protocol.
The SIP is presented in the Request for Comments: 3261 (RFC-3261) by J. Rosenberg et al. “SIP: Session Initiation Protocol”, June 2000, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Network Working Group, Obsoletes: 2543, category: Standard Track, (retrieved on Apr. 9, 2003, on the Internet site, www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3261.text). Also refer to “Session Initiation Protocol Textbook”, first edition, edited by Y. Chimura et al. Japan, published by Kabushiki Kaisha IDG Japan, on May 2, 2003. The HTTP is presented by RFC-2068, for example, R. Fielding et al. “Hypertext Transfer Protocol/1.1-HTTP/1.1”, January 1997, Network Working Group, category: Standards Track, (retrieved on Apr. 9, 2003 on the Internet site, www.w3c.org/Protocols/rfc2068/rfc2068).
However, the HTTP-SIP conversion gateway suffered from the problem that it was restricted to a simple function of protocol conversion by a protocol conversion rule built from the outset in the HTTP-SIP conversion gateway device.
For example, if the function of accessing (retrieving, registering or updating) the presence information, supervised on a database in the SIP environment (SIP-DB), based on the request contents by the HTTP, is set in the HTTP-SIP conversion gateway, then only this function would be implemented. However, the function not set in the HTTP-SIP conversion gateway device could not be utilized. Moreover, it was difficult for the developer of the application (AP), such as the SIP or Web server, to extend the function of the HTTP-SIP concerted operation. It was also difficult to flexibly exploit and control the functions, built into the HTTP-SIP conversion gateway, from the AP side of these servers.